As an internationally active feminist peace organisation, we implement our programmes in close cooperation with selected organisations abroad. We focus on a small number of long-term partnerships. We are united by our commitment to the effective participation of women in all phases of a peace process.

Together with our partners, we work to ensure that peace activists play an active role in implementing peace agreements as well as in processes of dealing with the past after armed conflicts – thereby contributing to the prevention of violent conflict and renewed escalation.

The armed conflict over self-determination between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the Muslim majority region of Mindanao lasted more than 50 years. Women were already driving forces in the peace process. Since the 2014 peace agreement, the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao has been in the process of building political structures. This is a key moment for women to anchor their demands for a gender-equal society within the new political and social structures.

In the fall of 2019, we brought together peace activists from Colombia, Nepal and the Philippines to share their experiences of armed conflict and of the subsequent peace efforts in their countries and to benefit from each other's expertise. As different as the political contexts are, the women found many similarities. The solidarity they felt at the meeting gives them the strength to continue their often arduous peace work.

We have been organising Women's Peace Tables with our local partners since 2015, with the aim of strengthening women's participation in peace processes and making their peace work visible. They have become a proven instrument for achieving these goals.

It was a unique exchange that we were able to organise with our partners in the Philippines in December: at various events, two representatives of the Gender Working Group of the Colombian Truth Commission exchanged their experiences with peace activists from the Philippines. Many moments of recognition and understanding emerged at during these exchanges. Our programme managers Andrea Filippi and Karin Widmer were there.

What images do the words "peace processes" evoke in your mind? Do you imagine years of negotiations culminating in a ceremony where the parties to the conflict sign an agreement, followed by a photo of the handshake that goes around the world? We have scrutinised and deconstructed this common image and taken an in-depth look at peace processes, as well as the question: "How do women influence peace processes?" The result of this work is a graphic representation of the different stages of peace processes. With this tool, we want to focus on the role women play and where they exert influence to drive peace processes and prevent setbacks.

At the PeaceWomen Across the Globe-hosted webinar, “Leveraging feminist networks for advocacy”,  three inspiring and experienced activists and peacebuilders shared key insights on how and why feminist networks play a key role in advocacy. Rabab Baldo (Sudan), Uma Mishra-Newbery (Switzerland) and Karen Tañada (Philippines) collectively have decades of experience in feminist engagement shaped by diverse contexts and trajectories.

In the magazine Fem*Fém, our colleagues Liv Halperin and Camille Bernheim write about promoting creative agency, maintaining peacebuilding and leveraging political opportunities as crucial factors for creating a peaceful society after armed conflict in their article “Sustaining peacebuilding efforts in post-armed conflict settings”. The multilingual magazine Fem*Fém is published by the Association for Feminist Science in Switzerland FemWiss.

Making peace processes more gender-sensitive

In our range of multimedia products you can listen to human rights and women's rights activists talk about their lives and work. You can also learn more about our and our partners’ projects and events.

"Bringing peace to Mindanao": Yasmin Busran-Lao, former member of the Philippine government's peace negotiation panel for talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front

Compact, interesting and relevant: in our printed and electronic newsletters, you can find out about our events and projects and our political activities in Switzerland and abroad.

It was a special kind of exchange that we were able to organise with our partners in the Philippines in December: at a series of events, two representatives of the Gender Working Group of the Colombian Truth Commission exchanged their experiences with peace activists from the Philippines. Many moments of recognition and understanding emerged from these encounters. Our programme managers Andrea Filippi and Karin Widmer were there.

In this print newsletter you can read about the exchange of knowledge and experience between two representatives of the Gender Working Group of the Colombian Truth Commission and peace activists from the Philippines and learn how the exchange at the WPS Focal Points meeting in South Africa contributes to the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on "Women, Peace and Security".

Moments of recognition and understanding emerged during the exchange between peace activists from Colombia and the Philippines. Our programme officers Andrea Filippi and Karin Widmer were there.

Three different countries and contexts, each with different peace agreements and challenges in implementation. And yet, the three women from our partner organisations in Colombia, Nepal and the Philippines found many commonalities – in the experiences and insights shared by women peacebuilders and in what it takes to sustain peace. At a public panel in Bern, the three women talked about the importance of feminist principles in peacebuilding, particularly to prevent backsliding into armed violence, of safe spaces and self-care for activists and of not losing sight of the goal – sustainable peace.

Colombia, Nepal and the Philippines. What these countries have in common: They have formally ended armed conflicts, but there is still no peace. Women peacebuilders from our partner organisations in these three countries share their achievements and insights on sustaining peace during transitional justice processes and preventing backsliding into armed conflict at an event in Bern on 16 October 2024.

Our long-standing partnerships in Colombia, Nepal and the Philippines, where formal peace agreements have been signed, support women in the implementation of peace agreements and in their efforts to bring about structural change. In three videos with representatives of our partner organisations in these countries, they share their most important insights from their collaboration with us.